Not once does she drop a shooby-doo or any of the other standard clichés of jazz vocals into the tune.

This is typical for the singer. Since hitting her stride with her spectacular sixth solo album, 1991’s I Remember, she has built her career on a repertoire that never lets genredefinition get in the way of her choice of material.

If the tune feels right, the Denver, Colorado, based vocalist takes it and does what she wants with it. Beautiful Life includes everything from her takes of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You to Ani DiFranco’s 32 Flavours, and even Stevie Nicks oft-done Dreams.

“I listen to music all the time, and a lot of the things I cover are the standards of my time and they work for me,” said Reeves.

“There is a long tradition of jazz musicians taking the popular music of their time and giving it a jazz sensibility, and I think that tradition continues. At one point, Ella Fitzgerald did a whole Swinging the Beatles performance, and it was quite fabulous.”

Diane Reeves.Jerris Madison /
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Asked if she thinks that the great American songbook needs added pages, Reeves notes that there are many excellent singers working today who make it their focus. An arrangement of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler’s Stormy Weather appears on her latest recording.

Ultimately, it’s about the song and what Reevescan do with it. A prime example is the pop/jazz fusion number Wild Rose, which couldhave graced radio charts in the late 1970s.

“Esperanza Spalding wrote that song for me after we talked about her being on the record,” said Reeves. “She brought it to me around Christmas 2014 and it was one of the best presents ever. You know, each record you do you are always moving forward to the next one and this tour I’m mixing material from Beautiful Life, some past songs and a tribute segment to Ella Fitzgerald, too.”

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Recalling Fitzgerald is reminiscentof the time when jazz singers and crooners graced pop charts and the radio, rather than specialty programming on public or digital radio. Lately, with talents such as Spalding, Gregory Porter, Jose James and others blowing up all over, it’s a very good time for singers again.

Reeves takes it further.

“Yes, and there is Kurt Elling‘s new project, Lalah Hathaway, Robert Glasper and jazz artists exploding up all over such as Kamasi Washington working with Kendrick Lamar,” she said. “It’s really exciting to see this happening, as it’s almost like the industry going back to before everything was part of a scene.”

Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Reeveshadn’t even heard the word genre. There is a sense that she dislikes categorization.

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“You could go to a concert then and see Ravi Shankar and Miles Davis together and it wasn’t called world music, it was just music filed alphabetically in the record store,” she said.

“And now I’m excited to see that coming back together again with a lot of unique artists exploding out with social media and online exposure where they may not have industry presence. Jazz historically does well in tumultuous times and there is plenty to draw upon now.”

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Reeves’cousin, keyboardist George Dukewho died in 2013, was likely a role model in her favouring an open approach to her art. Not only did he release more than 30 solo jazz recordings, but he was famous for his work with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and as a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, appearing on such key recordings as 1973’s Over-Nite Sensation and 1974’s Apostrophe.

As anyone who has attended a concert at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts knows, the venueis one of the finest in North America for sound.

There is something about the design of the under-1200 seat venue, its placement of seating and the sight lines, which combineto create a unique and memorable experience.

Joyce Hinton is the co-managing director of the space and responsible for booking the specialized concert series.

“What I do is I look at the vision and values of the University of B.C., how diverse our city is, and the amazing programming that the venue has enjoyed through its history when deciding on a series,” said Hinton.

“I didn’t want to compete with the work that was being done, or to be too strictly focused on classical music — which, honestly, sounds absolutely incredible here — but to expand the scope.”

Thethree remaining performances in the series are well worth a peek. Hinton stresses how much collaboration between similar stakeholders across Canada, the Pacific Northwest and even Seattle is needed to get the international talent to tour.

Vocalist Bobby McFerrin has cancelled his performances dueto severe illness, but here are Hinton’s breakdowns of the rest of the concert series:

Noche Flamenca’s Antigona

March 12| 7 p.m.

“This is such an interesting idea — to take a Greek tragedy and put it into flamenco form,” Hintonsaid. “It’s been playing in New York for quite a while to excellent reviews and the company head Soledad Barrio is an extremely influential and important creative force in modern flamenco.”

Anda Union

March 26 | 8 p.m.

“This is the group from Inner Mongolia who I was partially introduced to by David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet, who I consider a very credible source for recommendations,” said Hinton. “I saw a free seminar at the Arts Presenters Conference in New York presented by Global Presents where somebody spoke about presenting them and said it was amazing.”

Max Raabe and Palast Orchester

April 9 | 7 p.m.

“Finally, after four years of trying to get this German 12-piece big band that specializes in recreating the 1920s Berlin era to town it’s happening.” she says. “They have played in Carnegie Hall to sellouts, and in Toronto, but this will be the local debut. I’m so glad to hear a group like this in the Chan.”

Next year is the 20th anniversary of the venue and Hinton promises a very special season.

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